About Waring

Since its founding in 1972 by Josée and Philip Waring as an alternative approach to schooling, Waring has set itself apart by its commitment to creating an environment where learning can thrive. We strive to maintain a culture that honors and supports the human desire to learn.

Admissions

"As I entered college I was amazed by how well Waring had prepared me. At first it wasn't obvious: I had no idea what it would be like to have 1600 classmates, or suddenly to receive grades! But as the classes started up, I realized that Waring had endowed me with the ability and courage to speak up, to be a leader in countless ways, and to be a positive presence in a community. Waring is not like college: in college, professors may not reach out to students to ensure success, as they do at Waring. But Waring teaches us how to take the initiative to reach out, whether to professors, classmates, or anyone in the community; that skill is invaluable."

Academics

Waring offers a full program of intellectual, aesthetic, and physical activities for its students. The program balances academic rigor with breadth and asks all students to work not only in Humanities, Math, Science, French, Art, and Writing, but also in Theater, Athletics, Music, Travel, and short-term intensives like Camping Trip and the Endterm program.

Athletics

“Waring sports teams maintain a competitive attitude against other teams while fostering a huge amount of support and love for each other. I feel confident in my abilities as an athlete post-Waring, but I also feel confident in my ability to be a good teammate. This relates back to the classroom, and any environment because Waring sports has helped me become a good peer."

Arts

At Waring we believe that finding your voice through small studio arts and crafts, musical study, and theatrical production, will help you find your voice in the world. We ensure that many forms of art are incorporated in students daily lives in order to foster a love of culture and the world around us. Whether practicing a violin concerto, printmaking in the studio, discovering the world through a camera lens, or acting in a classic or avant-garde production, the Waring Arts program has something for everyone. Here, you will often spot musicians rehearsing in their soccer uniforms or students jogging from Chemistry lab to Theater rehearsal.

Co-Curricular

Waring School’s educational program is based on the premise that, in order to learn, students must be challenged with worthy intellectual material, exciting creative projects and ample opportunities to display their talents and expand their ideas through meaningful interactions with peers and adults.

Support Waring

As an independent school, Waring does not receive grants or aid from federal, state or local governments. Tuition only covers a portion of the actual cost of each student’s education. Tax-deductible contributions to the Waring Fund make up the difference.

Diversity Statement

Waring School: A Case for Diversity and Cultural Proficiency

Cultural proficiency is a mind-set, a worldview, a way a person or an organization makes assumptions for effectively describing, responding to, and planning for issues that arise in diverse environments. For some people, cultural proficiency is a paradigm shift from viewing cultural differences as problematic to learning how to interact effectively with other cultures.1

At Waring, we believe that cultural proficiency is inherent to our mission and raises the bar for lifelong learning. We believe that by its very nature learning cannot happen in isolation; learning requires students to be part of a diverse community which actively encourages them to begin a lifelong engagement with cultural proficiency. Research shows that when students interact with peers different from themselves, they exert more intellectual effort and expand their horizons. A diverse school is therefore essential to promoting the high academic expectations central to Waring’s mission. We strive to be a school of ideas; a richer diversity of ideas and voices makes that endeavor both more effective and more meaningful. We also work to cultivate the analytical mind and expressive voice, investigating the whole human experience to better understand ourselves in the context of a diverse world.

Waring School has celebrated different points of view from the time of its founding, and we recognize that Waring currently represents diverse viewpoints, be these cultural, political, philosophical or religious. We strive, every day and as a part of our ethic, to be a school inclusive of many ideas, and as one practical means to that end, we have long supported students of diverse socio-economic backgrounds through financial aid. All the same, a more diverse Waring School will enrich our learning environment, open up the community to different modes of thinking, living, and expression, and make our ongoing discussion of inclusion even more meaningful.

Waring students are becoming citizens of a more global community. Not only must we prepare students for such citizenry, but we must strive to bring the Waring Way to a broader community. Waring students, teachers and alumni have travelled to Taktse School in Sikkim, done an Endterm in Martinique, studied civil rights in Alabama, and worked with students in urban area schools. There is much more travel on our horizon.

To these ends, we have formed a diversity committee comprised of board members, faculty, parents and citizens of the greater community. We have made diversity a priority in our admissions office and are also actively recruiting diverse faculty members and trustees. In order to raise funds for scholarship, we are directing a large percentage of Major Gift donations between 2015-2017 toward scholarships, and will carry this directive over into a capital campaign by 2017 to allow for endowed scholarships for all families who need support. The Class of 2015 Scholarship Fund is a testament to the students’ commitment to make Waring more diverse. In the next five years, our goal is to have at least 10-15% students of color as well as a more diverse faculty and board of trustees. Additionally, Waring will continue to strive to have greater socio-economic diversity in our student body as well as to be inclusive of diverse ideologies, beliefs and cultural traditions.

A schoolwide commitment to cultural proficiency through discussion groups, professional development, and well-chosen readings and speakers will help us be tolerant, open, and authentic in this most important, ongoing endeavor. The Waring Way is a culture but it is also a pathway; we believe this is a necessary next step in our journey.

School Information

Social

Search

Search

The Waring School offers a highly demanding college-preparatory education, for grades 6-12, which stresses liberal arts in the setting of a supportive school community. The Waring atmosphere is one in which both teachers and students want to learn and believe that school is not an end in itself but is the beginning of a lifelong learning process.